The flip side of the Starkville Tea Party

January 22, 2010 11:21:00 AM

The Tea Party keynote speaker Angela McGlowan states that we should elect individuals who are great motivational speakers. George Bush was one of the best and look what he left us. Two wars, if you put them back to back, it would be a total of 16 years. The cost of these wars would have paid for the health care bill several times over.

Bush also left us with a recession/depression, that has wiped out several pension funds and people''s life savings. Standard and Poor''s states that this past decade was the worst ever for investors, including the ''30s. The Republicans were in office on both occasions. All three of these were left for someone else to solve.

When George Bush ran for president the first time, Ralph Nader said he was a corporation running for president. Corporate greed was the cause of our financial collapse. From the lessons we have learned from the past, it would be better to pay less attention to what a politician is saying and put more emphasis on what they are doing.

Dr. Ley (Phillip Ley, a Jackson oncologist who spoke, ed.), on health care reform, uses the word criticism or criticize four times in one paragraph. He criticized President Obama for not being more transparent. They were not being transparent at the meeting themselves because of written questions instead of people being selected at random by show of hands. With the written questions, they could choose the ones that suited them. But it was a little different when Nikita Gandy spoke out of turn to ask Gregg Harper if he would accept the same health care as the rest of the country. McGlowan told Gandy to submit the question in writing. She did, but it was never delivered to the panel.

Dr. Ley agreed the country''s health care system is flawed, but suggested allowing citizens to cross state lines to seek treatment or promoting health savings accounts rather than passing the current bill. The 40 million this bill is designed to cover can''t afford to pay for treatment anywhere, much less to buy gas, pay for meals, and possibly lodging expenses to cross state lines. I doubt that treatment in Alabama or Arkansas or Louisiana or Tennessee would be any cheaper. It makes no sense to me. And for health savings account that he recommends, it would be good if he would explain how it works. Maybe it is like if you get sick, don''t go to a doctor, the government will send you a check.

Reader Comments

Sean commented at 1/22/2010 3:30:00 PM:

I agree 100% with WMJ. It is absolutely ridiculous to try and lay the blame for our nations financial crisis at the feet of ANY one man, even if that man was the president.
Words of wisdom that I fear very few will heed, WMJ...

Godwin commented at 1/22/2010 4:03:00 PM:

You know who was a great motivational speaker?

HITLER, THAT'S WHO

TD commented at 1/23/2010 12:14:00 AM:

Let's just see how that hope and change is working for you Mr. Hodges.

BHO couldn't get cap and trade to pass both Houses. He had a majority in both Houses too.

BHO couldn't get a health care bill. He had a majority in both Houses too.

BHO's security people couldn't ID a prime suspect for a visa that almost blew up a plane. Of course they couldn't cross check a guest list for a state dinner either.

BHO has grown the national debt in 1 year by more than GWB did in 8 years.

And most of GWB's shortcomings appeared after Pelosi became Speaker too.

When will you and BHO start dealing with the present problems instead of laying blame on the past as an excuse for inaction?

James E. Hodges commented at 1/23/2010 8:21:00 AM:

TD Some questions are hard to answer, but these are easy.
Why did we need a stimulus? Because GWB went before the American people asking for $700 billion dollars and if he didn't get it, we would have a global melt down.
The reason we needed it was because of this phony economy that they had created. Bush said that he wanted to get as many people in houses as possible. These banks that got us into trouble, were lending as high as $40 on $1 collateral. They had lots of money. If a person was breathing, give them a key to a house. On the loan on the houses that they sold, they would adjust the payments for the first two to four years, according to the amount of money they were making. After those years were up, the payments in lots of cases would almost double.
In the meantime, the investment companies were packaging these loans into what amounted to no more than a bundle of paper. They were selling these all over the world at inflated prices because of so many houses being built and sold. And when people couldn't afford to make their payments because of the outrageous increase, they started defaulting. The phony economy had started collasping.
The cap and trade has not been brought to a vote. They had a meeting in Copenhagen to discuss it. And of course the U.S.Chanber of Commerce, the corporations and the lobbyists are gearing up to fight it tooth and nail.
The health care bill is not dead. The reason he is having so much trouble with it is because of the insurance companies and lobbyists.
On the security questions, GWB had his problems with it also.
On the 9/11 attack, they had information from phone calls that were made from foreign sources, that we were going to be attacked days before it happened, but because the CIA and FBI were not sharing that information with each other, they were unable to stop the attack, according to the commission that was appointed to see what went wrong before the attack. No one was held accountable for this atrocity. The airlines lines had a mandate to start more screening, but the date was pushed back by the Bush administration because the airlines complained it would be too expensive to implement. After the attacks, they were the very first ones to ask for federal aide because of low passenger volume.
When GWB was President, he did not include the cost of those wars in the debt. When Obama was elected President, he included the cost of the wars in the budget. That is one reason the budget deficit is so much higher now than when Bush was in.

Ty commented at 1/23/2010 9:27:00 AM:

You cannot lay all the blame on bush/republican the recession is due to all these dem's and leaning left repub's creating a housing and credit bubble that is going to lay this country in ruins. Now we are seeing what is happening to obama, Repubs elected in majority dem states. same thing that happened to bush.

James E. Hodges commented at 1/23/2010 9:30:00 AM:

TD I left out about AIG. Most these inflated mortgages were insured through AIG. When they started becoming worthless,they needed $180 Billion to make them good. And they still might not make it.

James E. Hodges commented at 1/23/2010 10:43:00 AM:

TD It's me again. People are always coming up with schemes to make money. In this case, the taxpayers got stuck with the bill.
You may recall in GWB's second term,he wanted to privatize your social security and put 25% in the stock market. Aren't you glad that didn't happen.We would have probably been at war over that.

James E. Hodges commented at 1/23/2010 1:51:00 PM:

TD Since Brown got elected in MA.,the stock market has lost 550 points in the 3 days after the election.It remembers what it was like before Obama got elected. Here comes the republicans. Down goes the market.

larry lewis commented at 1/23/2010 2:47:00 PM:

i like the way james hodges makes his point. if more people would research pre/post bush era,the arguments about our present situation would be ridiculous. but then again, they're riduculous out of the gate. i can't see how the 700 billion dollar stimulus pckg passed pre obama is so easily forgotten. but i'm just thinking out loud. for those that might want to debate this, i refer you to james hodges' points made previously.

James E. Hodges commented at 1/23/2010 3:04:00 PM:

TD I forgot to answer your last question. As soon as we solve these problems that Bush and his regime left us,we will start on the present problems.

gogetum commented at 1/24/2010 12:00:00 PM:

Who is this Hodges guy? Will somebody tell him again about how the blip dems have been in control of both houses since 06, that's over three years!! That's where the blame lies and those of us with even a lick of sense can see it clear as a bell. Naturally Biden/obama have been a disgrace and will be one termers. Hodges needs to open his eyes and start watching FOX instead of his beloved MSNBC. Get rid of the "chill up his leg" Matthews statue from your bedroom and get some facts from the Beck man. Even CNN would be better for you, Hodges, than MSNBC. Nov of this year will change both houses back to the good guys. BO is a lame duck already but Nov will start us back on the recovery road. Many of the dems are already looking for work elsewhere or changing to another party. Thank the Lord!

Centrist commented at 1/24/2010 10:07:00 PM:

Fact: Clinton left us with a surplus. Bush turned that to a near depression with his Repubnant Congress that managed to spend the account then block all progress for improvement that the Dems tried to implement since 2006. (a slim majority of one) Anyone who believes Murdock's Fox is a pawn, used and abused by deep thinkers like Limbaugh and Beck, idiots and marionettes of the first order. If that is what the conservative movement has been reduced to, I bid them farewell. Intelligent thinkers like Buckley are rolling over in their graves, for they knew that good governance repudiated the fact that if you believe that government is the problem, do all you can to destroy government when you are the majority. Obama is left to clean up the mess that was left as a result of that flawed philosophy.

JJ commented at 1/25/2010 10:50:00 AM:

gogetum If all of the blame lies with these blip dems who have been in control of both houses sonce '06,why did these blip dems swamp the republicans in the last election? Was the election a fake? Can hardly wait to read your reply!

Godwin commented at 1/25/2010 11:21:00 AM:

What's the difference between a Tea Party and a Nuremberg Rally?

Seriously. It's not a riddle.

woodnut commented at 1/25/2010 1:19:00 PM:

WMJ With all due respect,after reading the article about the housing crisis that James wrote it about covinced me that it could have been Bush's fault. What do you think of the housing crisis.
Why was the tea party not alive and kicking until Obama and the democrats kicked the republicans out of office. I'm beginning to wonder if this tea party may be just a bunch of hot air.

JJ commented at 1/26/2010 8:43:00 AM:

gogetum I'm still waiting!

KJ commented at 1/26/2010 12:48:00 PM:

The dems have a majority in the Senate, but it's a majority in name only. The filibuster rules require a super-majority 60 for all practical purposes. The minority republicans have simply decided that the Senate will do no business. They will then make the false claim (as "gogetum" has here) that the dems, even with a majority, are to blame for not passing anything. The GOP has become the NIhilist Party. No compromise is acceptable to them at all, and yet they screech and whine and point fingers at others. It's their own diapers (very likely literally in the case of "family values senator" David Vitter) that are filled to capacity and fouling the air.

WMJ commented at 1/26/2010 1:41:00 PM:

Woodnut...

We all (ALL!) set the housing crisis into motion long ago. It's the "feel good story" that hooked us all. We'd all like to see everyone in a nice big house with a two car garage and we sold ourselves to make it happen. Dems and Repubs alike carved this out as part of kickbacks to banks (easily transversed loan schemes) and sold it to the general public as "the right thing to do". We were all stupid enough to believe it.

This set in motion a downward funnel as banks lined up to wine and dine those who have no concept of how to budget their own finances and save for their own future. Then corporate greed turned this into a nice big ponzi-scheme in the form of credit default swaps. It was done legally, but without any concern for our Nations future and how risky this really endeavor really was. WE ARE ALL TO BLAME FOR THIS.

The Tea Party has nothing to do with who is and who isn't in office then or now. The Tea Party is born out of recognition that we won't stand for it in the future. You attempt to label this movement as only a reaction to Democrats control of Congress and Obama. Grant you it has certainly aided in that respect. However, I don't know anyone who envisioned a sprint to the finish type of change in the form of drastically increasing the size of gov't that Obama now mandates...not to mention the predicted budget deficit ballooning to the point of no return.

Bottomline: If you see that Obama is carrying this Country on the path that you support, then I encourage you to fight for him to the finish. I in-turn will see you from the other dugout. Good day.

JC commented at 1/26/2010 4:47:00 PM:

Shorter WMJ:

"We are all to blame for this; now let's go get Obama!"

woodnut commented at 1/26/2010 7:01:00 PM:

WMJ ALL was not to blame.It was the lobbyists,the bankers,the investment houses on wall street.Freddie Mac secretly paid a Republican consulting firm $2 million to kill legislation that would have regulated and trimmed the mortgage finance giant and its sister company, Fannie Mae, three years before the government took control to prevent their collapse.
McCain,s campaign manager,Rick Davis,or his lobbying firm has taken more than $2 million from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dating back to 2000.Freddie Mac contributed $250,000 to the last GOP convention.
That old saying, money talks and we walk.

JJ commented at 1/27/2010 8:18:00 AM:

gogetum Are you on vacation? I'm still waiting!

woodnut commented at 1/27/2010 4:06:00 PM:

WMJ After watching the grilling of Geithner and Paulson on tv today, I never heard the word ALL mention one time.It was the banks, investment houses,wall street and Bush. No doubt, they wanted some Geithner blood. None of them have anything close to the responsibility that he had.
One has to wonder with all of their sophisticated questioning,since they were there under Bush, why they didn't know that the economy was tanking. It is just a smoke screen to cover their mistakes.
You say that the Tea Party has nothing to do with who is or who isn't in office then or now.If that's the case, Glenn may be right when he says it's a hoax.
One question you didn't answer was why the Tea Party wasn't alive and kicking until Obama and the democrats kicked the republicans out of office.
As for Obama carrying this country on a path that I support,his options were limited because of the failed policies of the Bush administration. Good day.

BigFoot commented at 1/27/2010 10:41:00 PM:

Thank God George Bush was not a coward. He saved many lives with the war on terror.

morecowbell commented at 1/28/2010 8:46:00 AM:

BigFoot Excuse me, please! Has there not been anyone killed in the Iraq and Afghan wars. Dick Cheney is
the coward. He got 5 (count them) deferments from serving in Vietnam.

JJ commented at 1/28/2010 9:03:00 AM:

gogetum Since I haven't seen your reply, I consider your statements as being false. But I will be waiting intil we go off the air.

diamondgirl commented at 1/28/2010 9:02:00 PM:

BigFoot; Where have you been? Bush was in office when we were attacked with 3,000 people losing their lives.

gogetum commented at 1/29/2010 10:04:00 AM:

JJ = been under the weather a while (bad cold). I think it's KJ who has been on vacation. How'ed he miss the vote by a female repub senator from yankee land who kept the obamacare alive?? KJ needs to get up to date before flipping his lid about the repubs pointing fingers. Every repub in both houses could have been home working in the yard for an entire year and KJ would still be thinking "it's all their fault". Talk about finger pointing in the wrong direction? KJ- When you get up to date , please go over to JJ's and bang on the door to let him know that the "last election" was won by a "Republican" by the name of Scott Brown. JJ is stuck somewhere back in 08. You might have to smack him a couple times to snap him out of it but you have my blessings, go ahead. Also , when you get his attention, tell him Obama is a big fat liar and will go to his grave pointing his finger at Bush while singing I I I I I me me me me me mine mine mine.

woodnut commented at 1/29/2010 11:11:00 AM:

WMJ With Ross saying he is going to run for public office on a Republican ticket, he gave your secret away. When I heard that, I remembered that someone had mentioned the fact that the Republicans could not come through the front door and win the election because of the disaster left behind by the Bush administration.They would come through the back door.
You mention we could not tolerate the budget deficit ballooning to the point of no return. If you were watching the State of the Union speech by President Obama, he explained that Bush did not have the two wars included in the budget,among other items. In all fairness to Obama, you would, but probably won't acknowledge that Bush is still part of the problem.

observer2 commented at 1/29/2010 11:16:00 AM:

Right on, Gogetum. JJ and JC must be closely related, at least first cousins. KJ has some good points sometimes but he's way too far left most of the time and is a Bush hater. It sure will be a shock when they wake up in Nov this year to hear their heros (biden/obama)are lame ducks. Maybe they are already, haven't heard what the Beck man has to say yet today. Go, tea baggers!!!!

JJ commented at 1/29/2010 12:31:00 PM:

gogetum Sorry to hear you have a bad cold. Maybe you should take a dose of Obama koolaid.
When I said that the democrats swamped the republicans in the last election, I thought you would know which election. I didn't think that I would have to spell it out in black and white for you to understand.
I apologize for my ignorance.

melody commented at 1/29/2010 2:20:00 PM:

Poor old woodnut, funny how weakly liberals believe all the lies BO(the usurper) speaks. Pitiful, just pitiful. It's all in black and white , like JJ said and they still go for it hook line and sinker. They walk among us!!

The Ghost of Elections Past commented at 1/29/2010 3:19:00 PM:

It sure will be a shock when they wake up in Nov this year to hear their heros (biden/obama)are lame ducks.

Ah, the 1994 congressional elections... I well remember how the Republicans' overwhelming victories that year swept Bob Dole into the presidency two years later.

Inshock commented at 1/31/2010 7:06:00 PM:

Hey,ghostly! What year was Bill Clinton elected?

melody commented at 1/31/2010 8:19:00 PM:

You right Inshock--the Ghost is a little confused. Got his P's mixed up with his Q's.

usurper commented at 1/31/2010 8:49:00 PM:

Melody! Are you insinuating that BO (the usurper) stole the election like Bush?

Better do some more research, Ghost. When was Dole nominated by the repubs?
usurper: surely you are more up to date than that. Mr. Keyes gave him that handle because he won't show a real birth certificate. Pretty obvious to all rational folk that he's not a natural born citizen.

usurper commented at 2/1/2010 12:53:00 PM:

Melody! Let me start by saying that I didn't just now get off of that watermelon wagon. Mr. Keyes, like any other politician, will say or do anything to get elected.
As soon as President Obama opens his mouth,the republicans are right there to do opposite of what he says and to start criticizing.
If what you stated was true, you and I both would be watching the impeachment proceedings right now on tv,brought on by the republicans.
C'mon! When you write something, you need to be serious.

melody commented at 2/1/2010 3:11:00 PM:

Everyone knows you aren't serious. Where you been , usurper? Surely not where you can see the news for the last three years. The dems have been in control of both houses since 06. Get up to date , then come on back with some facts, seriously. It's the dems who are being bribed by the dems to vote for BO's far out bills. Helpful hint---watch the Beck man if you can get access to a television. He's on the FOX station at 4pm, mon-fri.

Bob Dole commented at 2/1/2010 4:09:00 PM:

Hi Melody. Bob Dole has been informed about your ignorance of history.

Bob Dole was the Republican nominated for president in 1996. Bob Dole anticipated a big victory because Bob Dole's fellow Republicans had re-taken Congress in 1994 and all the right-wingers were screeching about how unpopular Bill Clinton was, like they are screeching now about Barack Obama. Bob Dole thought Bob Dole was a shoo-in.

Bob Dole doesn't know who this Beck feller is, but Bob Dole wonders if maybe you shouldn't be taking your history lessons from him.

Bob Dole!

Sarah! commented at 2/1/2010 4:15:00 PM:

I'm gonna be the Bob Dole of 2012, you betcha!

observer2 commented at 2/1/2010 8:59:00 PM:

Melody, I saw that one coming. You sure rattled a lot of liberal cages with that line. Way to go! Gotta get back to Hannity and Dick Morris. Then do the Beck show recorded earlier, he's probably the Number One show in the world now. Even more popular than O'really.

Sarah! commented at 2/2/2010 8:28:00 AM:

Anybody know where I can cash a $100,000 check? It's from a real American grassroots organization! *wink*

James O''Keefe commented at 2/3/2010 3:25:00 PM:

Anybody know a good lawyer?

Bubba Gump commented at 2/4/2010 8:37:00 AM:

It appears most of you, and this country, are busy watching the hole instead of watching the donut. Ask yourself this: what is the one constant in the whole thing?

Congress is the answer you are looking for here. Although there have been a few faces come and go, the same people are in Congress, and especially in key places within Congress, over the past couple of decades.

These people have engineered what you have today by sloppy work, poor design, corruption, graft, under-the-table deals, and nest feathering all at your expense.

The truly funny part about it is your willingness to re-elect these "leaders of fools" year after year while pointing fingers at each other amid the brainwashed cries of "liberal, conservative, left-wing, right-wing."

The sad part? The solution to the problem is, and has always been, in your hand.

Stop voting them into office if they aren't getting the job done. Even your dog knows better than to crap in its own bed. What's your excuse?

The Nashville Tea Party commented at 2/4/2010 1:43:00 PM:

Today's the first day of the official Nashville Tea Party! Lobster and steak for the masses! (The masses who can afford $549, that is.)

We're a grassroots, populist group, we are! And we have SARAH PALIN! Did I mention the $549?

What''s Next commented at 2/4/2010 4:36:00 PM:

What is next, Bubba? We had the worst economy that most of us have ever seen in the past 9 years with the repubicans at the throttle most of the time. We voted them out and the dems in,exactly what you said to do.
The independents made no showing at all.
Again, what's next, Bubba?

The Nashville Tea Party commented at 2/4/2010 6:50:00 PM:

I wonder how many people were there to eat lobster and steak who had no medical insurance or who had lost their job because of being outsourced to China, their unemployment has been exhausted.
At $549,it's only for the rich and famous. Their road to prosperity is what it's all about, dooping poor people along the way to get their vote.

Bubba Gump commented at 2/4/2010 9:40:00 PM:

I believe it was you who said "we voted the Democrats in," was it not? The only difference between a Democrat and a Republican is the Republicans have a tad more DNA links that can be traced back to the Great Apes.

One group is just as sorry as the other. History should have proved this to you by now.

Independents? It will never happen. Why? Because Americans have been convinced a vote for anything other than a Democrat or a Republican is a wasted vote. And no one wants to waste their vote.

What do I see for us in the future?

Who told you that just because we are the United States we can't go the way the Romans did, or any other civilization that has disappeared gone? It most certainly can happen. It has happened before.

What to do?? Sadly, as long as Americans are willing to continue on with the current political football mentality we see today, there is no hope for us.

I won't see it happen, but I'd wager this country will completely fall apart, become un-recognizable, fall into civil un-rest, and disappear into something far worse within the next 150-200 years. We will probably go broke long before then.

Humans have a nasty habit of not thinking something can happen simply because it has never happened in their lifetime. Keep in mind your lifetime is only a split second in the life of the planet. Factor in natural events, crop failures, civil unrest fostered by the economy, and any other countless variables and you can see we are wasting precious time/resources/energy on foolish political games.

melody commented at 2/6/2010 11:36:00 AM:

Fact is- we is broke now and the usurper is trying to give the spoils to china. TRILLIONS more in debt. All that's left now is the crying.